Parcel tax supporters out in full force: Effort aims to garner support for Measure K

SCOTTS VALLEY — Half a dozen volunteers sit at fold-out tables or lean against the countertops at campaign headquarters, cell phones pressed to their ears, their voices echoing against the hot pink walls that once housed a now-shuttered yogurt shop on Mount Hermon Road.

Members of Save Our Schools Scotts Valley have been in full-blown campaign mode for the last two months, after Scotts Valley Unified School District officials filed paperwork with the county elections office to place a parcel tax measure on the June 5 ballot. Their voices remain calm, but it's a facade that masks the urgency behind their message.

Their schools are depending on them, they only have four weeks left, and they need to reach as many of the 12,500 registered voters in the district's boundaries as possible.

If passed, the Measure K parcel tax would be in effect for three years starting July 1, tacking on an extra $48 to property tax bills each year with exemptions for contiguous parcels and anyone receiving Supplemental Security Income. It would raise up to $1 million through 2014-15, just enough to keep from having to lay off more teachers and cut more programs.

The state could cut more than $1 million out of next year's district budget, said campaign head Derek Timm, who has two daughters enrolled at Vine Hill Elementary School. If that happens, "and we don't have a parcel tax, and the district doesn't come up with additional funding sources to help stabilize their funding, I'm not sure what's going to happen."

It's not yet clear how much funding the district will receive from federal, state and local sources in 2012-13. But tentative figures presented in late March showed revenue of about $15 million, a drop of more than $2 million from this year.

That figure does not include income from a statewide, education-related tax initiative backed by Gov. Jerry Brown for November's general election. Vickie Clark, who heads the district's business office, has to prepare the budget as though the initiative will fail, triggering cuts of $370 in per-pupil spending.

So far, Timm said, voters have expressed support for Measure K. No one filed an opposition statement with the county elections division.

Only property owners will pay the tax, though the majority of them do not have school-aged children. Timm said many would support the measure because property values are higher in areas with good schools.

"I think that's the big benefit that property owners can miss out on if they don't think about it in those terms," he said.

Backers say Measure K would provide a stream of revenue that would help prevent a devastating domino effect, starting with teacher layoffs that would lead to larger classes.

For example, Ann Codd, former president of the teachers union, has 30 students enrolled this year in her fifth-grade class at Brook Knoll Elementary, but she expects that number to hit 32 or 33 next year. That means her students will get even less individual attention.

"When the teachers look and see what's happening at the state level, and how funding public education is not a priority, it sends the wrong message to our schools, to our teachers and to our communities," she said.